Oil hits record above $92 on weak dollar

By Matthew Robinson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices shot to an all-time high above $92 a barrel on Friday as the tumbling dollar and Nigerian output disruptions helped extend a rally that has lifted prices nearly 30 percent since August.

Worries that supplies may come up short ahead of the Northern Hemisphere winter have fuelled the rise, drawing a fresh wave of speculative money from investors.

U.S. crude settled up $1.40 at $91.86 a barrel, off the record $92.22 struck during electronic trading earlier.

Oil was closing in on its inflation-adjusted high of $101.70 seen over the course of April 1980, a year after the Iranian revolution and at the start of the Iran-Iraq war.

London Brent gained $1.21 to $88.69 a barrel.

"Fresh highs are now attracting fresh buying, especially following yesterday's violation of the futures highs just above the $90 level," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois.

Prices jumped past $90 a barrel after a U.S. government report on Wednesday showed a sharp drop in crude stocks in the world's biggest energy consumer.

Oil got a boost on Friday after a rebel attack on a oil rig in OPEC-member Nigeria operated by Italian firm ENI shut 50,000 barrels per day of production.